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Post by Richter Abend on Nov 22, 2011 2:32:03 GMT -6
That's good for us," came a response from Richter as the armored soldier silently began pacing back in forth. "Now our mystery friend has a chance to explain himself." The man paused, clapping his hands together as be finished pushing a crate full of torches up against the door.
"No," replied the helmeted man, sizing up his barricade. "That can wait. We need to get you two into guard uniforms." Richter shook his head. "I'm not following you one more step until I know you're not leading us into a trap," Richter said, apprehension slowly seeping into his voice. "I've spent a little too much time prison jumping recently to allow myself to trust you anymore than I have." The armored man turned, shaking his head, and took a step towards Richter. "Why would I be leading you into a trap?" scoffed the man, tossing his hands out in disbelief. "I just broke you out of jail." "Wyatt broke me out of jail," corrected the Ilian, folding his arms across his chest. "All you did was throw me a set of keys after the damage was already done. You could be anyone. Maybe a bounty hunter trying to negotiate my head for a ransom or part of the thieves guild looking to extort something out of me." He tilted his head. "You seem to have an intimate knowledge of their tunnels, after all." Richter shook his head and shrugged. "Hell, the Etrurian higher ups could be having a power struggle for all I know and you're just here to get me from one bastard's hands into another."
"You're being serious right now, aren't you?" said the armored soldier, sighing heavily and putting a fist to his forehead. "Think, Richter. Even if I said I wasn't any of those things, what would prove that-"
"Company. Two incoming. A soldier and a girl civilian. I don't even want to think about the why..."
The armored man moved over to the window, peaking out of it through the slit in his helmet. He shook his head. "She doesn't look like an Etrurian..." he muttered, before moving in next to the door with Wyatt as Richter stood a few feet away, not exactly satisfied that his suspicions had gone ultimately unanswered.
But the next few seconds were a blur. The armored man deftly knocked out the accompanying soldier with a pommel strike while Wyatt, who had attempted to restrain the girl from behind with the handle of his axe was just as quickly thrown to the ground. Richter, his weapon ready to strike, made a move towards the door before stopping dead in his tracks upon identifying the girl.
"...Clair?" he asked, dumbfounded, as he let his arms fall to his sides.
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Derick
Soldier
A deserter from Bern, struggles to reign himself in.
Posts: 170
Profession: Amateurish Mercenary
Affinity: Anima
OoC Alias: Derick
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Post by Derick on Nov 22, 2011 5:53:55 GMT -6
Derick turned to his new companion. He suddenly realized that, beyond refusing a drink from her, they two hadn't spoken at all. Despite his lack of familiarity, he recognized she was uncomfortable, and a little uncertain.
"Would you prefer the pirate accent or without?"
She certainly wasn't feeling peppy. Derick looked at her and smiled reassuringly, "I prefer that you be yourself." Derick felt nauseated as soon as the words left his mouth. He had just sounded like an idiot, but he had meant it. He gave her another quick smile, and started to move towards the side door when Cefia spoke again,
"Can we take it easy though, I think I might have a headache," she asked, holding the back of her head.
Derick's training told him to just ignore her, personal problems should be largely disregarded...But he wasn't a soldier anymore...and he was concerned. He fell in step beside her, "Sure thing, there's no hurry." That was a lie, in truth he thought they should probably find Garith and get their gear as quickly as possible so they could assist if anything went wrong. But...Clair was more than capable of taking care of herself.
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Post by Clair Feldsky on Nov 22, 2011 12:25:16 GMT -6
OoC: For people reading this in the future, I always mind others controlling my characters, so don't get any ideas. Sometimes I'm willing to put up with it though.
Things were never easy. Just as they entered the watch tower, the doors were slammed closed behind them. Kyle was quickly struck unconscious, just as Clair felt someone trying to grab her from behind. She was already moving by then though. Just as the axe began to come down in front of her, she snapped her right fist up into her assailants right arm. Just above the elbow, on the inside of the arm, is a point that causes someone to briefly lose feeling in their arm, which she was aiming for. Twisting to the left, she aimed an elbow strike into her assailant's gut, stomped on his foot, and then slammed her palm up into his jaw. As he fell backwards, she didn't let up on his foot, which prevented him from catching himself.
As the red-head hit the ground, Clair was already maneuvering her back towards a wall, and had her sword out. She'd been attacked, and had fought back. This hadn't been anticipated. Very little of this had, in fact. She had no idea what was going on here, except that subtlety was not working anymore.
There was a lull as she spotted one of the men, the one with an axe aimed at her. Pink hair. It was Richter! The tension in her body stayed for a moment, as she stared, transfixed by the sight. The sword she was holding seemed to shiver in place, lowering slightly.
"...Richter.... You're out...." The Falcoknight's whispering voice barely felt suited to use at the moment.
Surprise, relief, anticipation, fear, and caution all vied for the same place in her eyes. She just wanted to go and bury herself in him, and never let go again, but that damnable caution wouldn't let her forget the other two men in the room. Weapons still drawn.
The initial shock wasn't something she could let beat her though. She was already picking her wits again. If Richter was out of prison, that would eliminate the biggest obstacle to getting him out.
"I'll lower my weapon if your companion will lower his, Richter."
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Wyatt
Hero
The Volcano
How can someone win if winning means that someone loses?
Posts: 463
Etruria Fame: 2
Sacae Fame: -1
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Post by Wyatt on Nov 22, 2011 14:58:34 GMT -6
Wyatt would be rather surprised, as he became aware of the pain still in his hand, that he tasted blood. Did he just have the element of surprise and get his ass kicked by an unarmed girl? Wow...that was....humbling. He groaned as his focus seemed to return, the pain of her leather boot cutting off the circulation to his hand. His right arm felt like pins and needles, he'd taken a nasty shot to the gut, his eyes were teared from the shot to his jaw, and he felt his lip bleeding as well. Damn man, he fought his way here only to get schooled by this civilian. Where did she learn to fight like that?
"Urrgh." He groaned. "Richter...you think you can ask your friend to stop standing on my hand?" How he still had the energy for humor after such a humbling experience was unknown. "Look, if you aren't his enemy then I've got nothing against ya. We're a little paranoid here." He spoke out to the warrior above him.
So the rescuer was in need of being rescued. It occurred to him, if she hadn't stopped when she saw Richter, he might have died here.
Sobering thought.
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Post by Richter Abend on Nov 23, 2011 3:12:24 GMT -6
Richter eyed his still unnamed ally, motioning for the man still clad in his Etrurian armor, to lower his weapon. The man, seeing that Richter knew the girl, abided by the rebel commander's request, lowering his sword to a neutral position before sheathing it.
"I'll just put this guy away, then," said the companion, picking up the recently knocked out soldier and tossing him over his shoulder. "We don't need any trouble from any more Etrurian soldiers if we can help it." Then, while he strode over to the three, currently silent and scared soldier to deposit his new loot, Richter slowly took a step closer to Clair.
Clair. Clair Feldsky. He hadn't actually expected to see her here. He...hadn't really thought she would come, though the sight of her warmed his heart. It was good seeing a familiar face.
No. It was more than that.
It was good seeing Clair, what with her sword drawn and at the ready. She should be in Bern right now, but she had come all this way to save him, and even though she hadn't actually broken him out of jail, he couldn't be more glad to have anyone else standing there on top of Wyatt's head right now. Plus, it meant he didn't have to axe another Etrurian soldier.
"It's alright, Clair," said Richter, his arm outstretched in an attempt to defuse the somewhat tense situation. "Wyatt's a friend. He helped break me out of prison."
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Post by Clair Feldsky on Nov 23, 2011 10:54:44 GMT -6
[Red]"Urrgh.... Richter...you think you can ask your friend to stop standing on my hand? Look, if you aren't his enemy then I've got nothing against ya. We're a little paranoid here."[/red]
Clair glanced down at the red-head as he spoke up. She'd not actually meant to stomp on his hand as well, but it wasn't a bad position to be in in this situation.... Even so, she stepped off. A moment later, she was putting her sword away in the shoulder sheath and relaxing as much as the spike of adrenaline would allow her. Typically, she'd remain suspicious for longer, but Richter vouched for them.
[Pink]"It's alright, Clair," said Richter, his arm outstretched in an attempt to defuse the somewhat tense situation. "Wyatt's a friend. He helped break me out of prison." prison."[/pink]
"You broke him out?" Clair turned to Wyatt, her face carrying the beginnings of a grin on it. "It wouldn't make sense for the Prophet to just let this one go. Looks like you've earned some gratitude then, assuming we get out of this alive."
Despite the situation they were in, Clair didn't seem discouraged by the difficulty of escape. She had a deep confidence that she, or someone here would make something work. That was her job, after all: To make things work.
The Falcoknight pushed a hand through her hair, as she looked up at the pink haired man. "Richter, there are sooo many things that we need to talk about right now, but we need to get you out."
She paused a moment, her left hand hanging at her side, her right hand on her hip. "If you're already lose from the prison, then they're probably going to seal off the gates soon.... Unless you already have an escape plan, we should go up to the top of the tower. I can at least point out some landmarks for the escape."
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Wyatt
Hero
The Volcano
How can someone win if winning means that someone loses?
Posts: 463
Etruria Fame: 2
Sacae Fame: -1
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Post by Wyatt on Nov 23, 2011 12:20:17 GMT -6
Wyatt got up off the ground, massaging his sore wrist and wiping off the bit of blood on his lip. "Breaking him out might be a bit too proactive. I think I just wound up in the wrong place at the right time is all." He chuckled slightly, retrieving his Magma Axe and hoisting it onto his shoulder. "Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about when we get out of this. The two things I'd like to know is why are you so important to them, and where did you learn to fight like that?" He said to Clair, rubbing his jaw with a laugh, before turning to more pressing matters.
"I've already been introduced, but call me Wyatt. The armored guy is a mysterious helper, and you were Clair, right?" He recalled Richter saying the name. "And I don't think we had too much of a plan, seemed to me that we were just playing it by ear. Any aide or advice you can offer could only help the situation."
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Post by Richter Abend on Nov 23, 2011 14:37:19 GMT -6
"Agreed, and yes," said Richter in response to Clair. "Though as Wyatt says, we haven't had much of an escape plan as much as we've been following him." The pink haired Ilian jabbed thumb at his armored companion. He didn't exactly sound thrilled at the fact that he was playing second fiddle. "He's been helping us out so far, but I have no idea who he is."
Turning from Clair, Richter glanced at the man in question, who in turn, shook his head. "If it helps, I'll say it," he said, his voice growing exasperated against Richter's suspicion, "I'm not trying to lead you into a trap. For the time being, I'm just trying to get you safely out of here." The man walked up to a murder hole, double checking it for any more approaching Etrurians, before turning back to Richter. "But like I said before, I do have something you want. I just can't give it to you now."
The Ilian sighed, his eyes narrowing at the man's incessant secrecy. The man's words didn't really reflect the dire situation they were in, and his unruffled demeanor and ill-placed assuredness did little to assuage Richter's suspicions. "From my understanding, we're going to head upstairs and put on guard uniforms," explained Richter. "I can only assume after that the master plan is to make it out of the front gate." He glanced at the man again, his eyes inquisitive.
"That's the long and short of it," the mystery man replied. He seemed completely sure of himself that the plan would work, despite the obvious ways it could go wrong. At this point, Richter wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
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The Herald
Herald
Voice of the Heavens Tyrannical Mouthpiece
"PEACE THROUGH WAR."
Posts: 105
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Post by The Herald on Nov 23, 2011 16:21:04 GMT -6
The Herald sat in his wooden traveling wagon as his caravan was brought into the town. He was silent as he pondered, surrounded in the finery befitting his station. His old eyes looked tired, but determined. He lifted up a curtain and looked out the window. The town was peaceful. One of many that benefitted from the way and teachings of the Prophet. It was a true testament to their work, and the sight of it made the Herald smile. But then he remembered why he was here.
The traitor, Richter Abend.
What a lost soul Richter was. He had once shown so much promise. He had once been a great potential servant of the Church and the Universal Truths. A Champion of Faith. But now? He was a wayward branch that needed to be pruned so that the way of the Prophet could grow strong. The Herald shook his head. He had once felt regret for ordering the man to be sentenced to death, but that time was no longer. Richter had fled from his rightful punishment, destroyed the Etrurian base of operations in Sacae, slaughtered noble Etrurian soldiers, and killed High Commander Ariston in the process. He had also done so with dragons on his side. Dragons! The Ilian had become nothing if not a heretic of the highest degree. "My lord," came a voice from outside. "Low Officer Alranus Aurilia is here to see you." The herald nodded his head.
"SEND HIM IN."
The door to the wagon opened and in walked a younger looking man. He was lean but well built, and his blonde, slicked back hair and prominent chin made him look like a nobleman. His demeanor was somber, but his eyes were intense.
"My Lord Herald, I come with news." The Low Officer knelt down on one knee and placed his fist over his heart. "The traitor has escaped. His cell was found with a giant hole in it, and he was nowhere to be seen." The man look up at the Herald. "What shall I order the men to do?" The Herald gave the man a troubled look, but his eyes soon grew calm.
"LOW OFFICER, WE CANNOT LET RICHTER ABEND ESCAPE AGAIN. HE HAS CONTINUED TO SPIT IN THE FACE OF OUR HOLY CAUSE, AND HIS EXISTENCE SOWS CHAOS THROUGHOUT ELIBE. IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE NO MORE CHILDREN ARE MADE FATHERLESS BY HIS SWORD, HE MUST BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. CLOSE THE GATES, BUT DO NOT CREATE A PANIC. I DO NOT WANT OUR PEOPLE TO WORRY THAT SOMETHING IS AMISS."
The Low Officer nodded deeply. With a "Yes my lord" he dismissed himself to relay the Herald's orders. The Herald's face grew dark. Richter Abend would not escape this time.
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Post by Cefia on Nov 23, 2011 17:30:47 GMT -6
Cefia couldn't help but notice the hustle and bustle of soldiers. Great, all this noise was causing her headache to come back, even worse than before. She clenched and started grinding her teeth. This wasn't any good news.
"Myself? Is there really such a distinct idea of an individual," she muttered the last part as another strike from the headache began.
"Aye, need to...do...I, aye, help Clair, need weapon, lets go find the armory first," she said, looking over to Derick. She was capable of brawling but facing down lances, swords and axes with mere fists was hardly a good idea.
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Derick
Soldier
A deserter from Bern, struggles to reign himself in.
Posts: 170
Profession: Amateurish Mercenary
Affinity: Anima
OoC Alias: Derick
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Post by Derick on Nov 23, 2011 18:08:32 GMT -6
Derick glanced around nervously, he could have sworn there weren't this many soldiers about when they first entered. Most of them were still milling about, but a few of them were grim faced, something was going on. Worse yet, word was spreading, the soldiers were organizing, not a good sign.
His attention was redirected as his companion spoke breathlessly. Her voice said higher, more sophicated, he opened his mouth to ask if everything was alright when she spoke in her usual tone. "Aye, need to...do...I, aye, help Clair, need weapon, lets go find the armory first," Derick met her eyes, he could tell she was in pain, he had the urge to pat her on the shoulder, something to reassure, but heck, he hardly knew the woman. He shook his head as he re-focused, Cefia said they needed weapons--right. She spoke of an armory, he was about to question where they could find such a place when he noticed a guard by a door in the wall, handing out weapons to soldiers fresh on the scene. Perfect.
Things seemed to settling down as the soldiers became more organized. No more were arriving on the scene, and so the soldier who was handing out weapons shut went inside and shut the door behind him. Derick motioned for Cefia to follow him as he walked casually over to the door. They would need to do this quickly, or the nearby soldiers would almost certainly notice. He reached under his cloak and grasped the hilt of the slim sword he had taken off of Da Vinci, Delmar...David? Whatever his name, Derick wouldn't be able to put up a fight with this weapon, but he might be able to get lucky if his opponent was completely surprised. His breathing got heavy and he felt his vision clouding as he backed up to get a running start at the door.
The door banged open as Derick's boot made contact with it, the guard had left it unlocked. He rounded the corner swiftly and flailed the blade wildly. The guard took a step back and stared at Derick, after a bemused second, he struck out with his own sword. The blade passed right along Derick's nose and under his eyes. Blood coated his face. The soldier pressed his advantage and stepped him, delivering a crushing blow to Derick's jaw with his sword hilt. Derick was knocked askew and slumped into the concrete wall, unconscious.
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Post by Cefia on Nov 23, 2011 18:39:57 GMT -6
Cefia was kept lagging behind as the headache was trying to split her noggin open! When she finally arrived at the scene, she found an unconscious Derick and the soldiers he left her to deal with apparently. She completely ignored the blade Derick had beside him, she could only handle axes and fists.
The moment of hesitation helped the enemy soldier to snap out of his surprise in seeing her, enough so that he began trying to slice at her. She managed to backstep the first attack but a lunge attack sliced at her side. It was enough for her to grab his arm. The strength she put into it surprised the man and she gave a nice punch against the jaw with her left fist.
The man fell back, stunned but she couldn't do anything either as the headache caused her to lose her focus. The soldier recovered faster than she did and managed to smack her against the head with it. Thank goodness he wasn't aware enough to slice her head off. She fell over on the ground but she didn't lose consciousness or rather her...memories returned. God damnit, she was an experienced pirate and she wasn't going to lose just yet.
She stumbled to her feet and brought up her fists again. Although the headache was gone, the attack had made things uneven, like she just drank a whole barrel of rum. She could also feel blood or sweat dripping down the side of her head. She shook her head and charged forward getting a good punch at the man's stomach. She finished him off with a headbutt. Well it was stupid but it worked. With that completed she quickly locked the door and made sure it was blocked and went to check at Derick.
"Wake up!" she said, trying to shake the man to his senses.
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Post by Clair Feldsky on Nov 23, 2011 18:42:20 GMT -6
"It's a pleasure, Wyatt." Clair said, fighting an amused grin at the fact that they were exchanging pleasantries on the edge of disaster. Her gaze was caught for a moment by the weapon he carried though. It looked to be of some arcane nature. She tapped her lower lip as she continued. "Sorry about the lip."
"If you're going to slip out using disguises...." It could work. The Falcoknight rubbed her chin in thought before pushing one of her golden locks behind an ear.
"It would at least allow you to move around more freely. I don't know that it would be good enough to get you out though.... Let's head upstairs." With that, the Illian Commander strode over till she found the path upwards, and started up.
What options did they have.... Clair racked her brain for ideas. Too much to plan for. Not enough information. In the past, she'd hated winging things. Now it seemed to be becoming just another approach. She pointed as they reached the upstairs, and found a slit to look through.
"That forest out there." She pointed to an easy wooded slope some distance away. "Myself and three others have our equipment stashed there. And my pegasus. No horses, I'm afraid. This place seemed to be the best location to steal horses from.... It's mostly fields around here, from what I could tell, so we'll need something that can put some distance behind you, and pursuit. We can head East from there."
"Are we sure that there's not a better way than the front gate? Could the walls be scaled? Maybe another way out found?" Slipping a highly wanted escapee through the heart of the hunters didn't fill the young woman with confidence.
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Wyatt
Hero
The Volcano
How can someone win if winning means that someone loses?
Posts: 463
Etruria Fame: 2
Sacae Fame: -1
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Post by Wyatt on Nov 23, 2011 19:24:54 GMT -6
Wyatt considered the conversation for a moment, and tapped his chin thoughtfully...that was until a grinding sound from outside caught his ears. He dashed over to a murder slit and cursed at what he saw.
"I've got more bad news for you. They just closed the gates. Our escape just got a lot harder, they finally noticed."
Now things were getting bad. No way out...well no easy way out. "I know I could break a hole in these walls with my axe.." He mused for a moment. "But that would be giving us...away. Hey wait a minute." He turned to the others, a crazy smile on his face.
"They expect you to run from the south right? What if I make a hole in the wall here, and during the commotion you escape as soldiers once they open the gate? If they see something that flashy, they'll know it was you escaping, and the chaos will be perfect. You can slip out and I can double back to the tunnels we were in. They don't know what I look like, so I can slip out later and meet up with you. It's an insane plan, but if they think the same way then we could fool them. After all, the darkest place is right under the candlestick as they say. They'd never think of looking for you in the search party, especially in all that confusion." Even as excited as he was with the plan, he kept his voice low. Didn't want the soldier's downstairs to hear and rat it out to everyone.
He somehow thought that Richter would disagree with it. But time was running out, and Wyatt couldn't see many other options. It would only be a matter of time before they began sweeping the city...and then they'd never escape alive.
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Derick
Soldier
A deserter from Bern, struggles to reign himself in.
Posts: 170
Profession: Amateurish Mercenary
Affinity: Anima
OoC Alias: Derick
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Post by Derick on Nov 23, 2011 23:11:36 GMT -6
Derick was awoken by a sharp pulling, he grunted, and his eyes shot open. "Wh-whoa!" he gasped breathlessly, the shaking was aggravating his fresh headache. He gently stilled himself, and gazed blearily into Cefia's eyes. He felt...unusual. He knew he had just had a combat reflex but...it didn't feel right...unfulfilled, perhaps...
Derick shook some sense back into his head and smiled at Cefia to indicate he was okay. He did a double take as his eyes focused, blood was running out of a small gash on her forehead. "What--" his eyes strayed over her shoulder, the soldier he had confronted was unconscious, but he had no sword wounds...Derick smacked his forehead, jolting his headache, he groaned as realization dawned on him, he looked in Cefia's eyes again. "I-I'm sorry!" Sorry for what? He pondered this a moment. He had foolishly led a charge that he was unfit to take, and in the process he had put Cefia in a dangerous situation. The apology was justified, but he still felt terrible.
He sat up and took stock. His face was paralyzed by a petrified mask. He reached up towards his face and pulled off a patch of dried blood. He investigated until his fingers brushed the deep wound across his face. He winced and pulled the hand away sharply, it was just a flesh wound, but it hurt like crazy. Derick sat up and reached into his cloak, producing his slightly depleted bottle of vulnerary. He uncorked it and dabbed the slightest amount on his face, to prevent disease, before offering the bottle to Cefia. "Take it, you need it." It was more of a plea than a command, Derick felt it was his fault that she got injured.
With the bottle still proffered to Cefia, Derick glanced around the room for weapons. There was nothing but bows, swords, and axes on the walls. A rack that looked like it could have held spears was completely empty. With a flat refusal to wield the sword again, it looked like Derick would have to focus on hand-to-hand.
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